Archives for White House

Unpopular at home and in much of the world during the last year of his presidency, George W. Bush is basking in rare adulation on his African tour.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete poured praise on Bush in Dar es Salaam on Sunday, the second day of his five-nation African tour, each compliment applauded warmly by members of the east African country's cabinet.
Although around 2,000 Muslim demonstrators protested against Bush on the eve of his visit, many thousands more cheering, waving people lined his road from the airport on Saturday.
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President George W. Bush lashed out at Democratic lawmakers Friday in a political tug-of-war over a wiretap program that pits US attempts to prevent terror attacks against its duty to protect civil liberties.
Bush accused Democrats in the House of Representatives of putting Americans at risk by blocking the Senate-passed legislation and allowing the post-September 11, 2001 measure to expire as they go on vacation.
"By blocking this piece of legislation our country is more in danger of an attack," Bush said.
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Americans are fed up with President George W. Bush, fed up with Congress and fed up with the government that controls so much of their lives.
Used-car salesmen rank higher in approval ratings than the President or the House and Senate. Osama bin Laden might top any of our elected leaders in a popularity poll.
With the death toll mounting daily in Iraq, entire neighborhoods emptied by foreclosures and the economy headed into the toilet, the national mood is bleak and the public holds the powers that be in Washington responsible.
The national mood is sour, the outlook grim and public confidence in our leaders at its lowest point in history.
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In part because of the Bush administration's excessive secrecy, Congress was moved to pass the Open Government Act of 2007, which the president reluctantly signed on the last day of the year.
It didn't take him long to try to gut the act -- just this past Monday, in fact.
The law's mechanism for promoting open government is an Office of Government Information Services in the National Archives, the final repository of all government records.
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Congressional Democrats gave President Bush's proposed $3.1 trillion budget a predictably cold reception and Republicans weren't particularly warm, either.
The budget, for the federal fiscal year starting Oct. 1, is where the president states his goals for that year and assigns his priorities to them by the amount of money he is willing to spend.
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President Bush is sending Congress a $3 trillion spending blueprint that would provide a big boost to defense and protect his signature tax cuts.
It seeks sizable savings in government health care programs and puts the squeeze on much of the rest of government, but it would still generate near-record budget deficits over the next two years.
Even before receiving the document Monday, Democrats were attacking it for slashing programs to help the poor while protecting tax cuts for the wealthy.
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President Bush's budget for fiscal year 2009, which goes to Congress, carries an alarming distinction: For the first time in the history of the republic, annual federal spending will cross the $3 trillion mark.
And federal spending got there early. That figure had been anticipated but not until next year when the new president would have been saddled with that honor.
Bush was also in office when the government crossed the $2 trillion mark in 2002 and the budget, thanks to the president's free spending Republican allies in Congress, sank into deficit after four years of surpluses.
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President Bush's 2009 budget will virtually freeze most domestic programs and seek nearly $200 billion in savings from federal health care programs, a senior administration official said Thursday.
Overall, the Bush budget will exceed $3 trillion, this official said. The deficit is expected to reach about $400 billion for this year and next.
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President Bush is a forgotten man. Giving his last State of the Union speech, he was overshadowed by a tempest in a teapot. (Did Barack Obama snub Hillary Clinton or merely turn to talk with another senator?)
We need a breather from the campaign, so we will focus on why history is likely to record George W. Bush's eight years in office as a failed presidency.
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At the end of his CNN interview before the State of the Union address, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was asked a no-trick question: "What is the state of the union?" And he gave a no-duck answer: "I think it's troubled -- to say anything else would be dishonest."
At the end of his State of the Union speech, which could have been titled "No President Left Behind," President Bush declared that "...so long as we continue to trust the people, our nation will prosper, our liberty will be secure and the state of our Union will remain strong."
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